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This study develops a new design method called the constraint force design method, which allows topology optimization for planar rigid-body mechanisms. In conventional mechanism synthesis methods, it is possible to find out optimal locations of fixed number of joints and lengths of rigid-links efficiently. In order to circumvent the fixed topology limita-tion in designing optimal rigid-body mechanisms, the constraint force design method is pre-sented[1]. Unlike other mechanism synthesis approaches, we perform kinetic analysis rather than kinematic analysis to find out optimal connectivity of rigid links as well as optimal loca-tions of joints. The applicability and limitations of the newly developed design method are discussed in the context of its application to rigid-body synthesis problems.